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Saturday, July 30, 2011

Let me start with apologies for my unannounced long absence from blogging world. For past few days my family has joined me here and this can only mean one thing...a cup of tea and long chats catching up on all aspects of life. I may not have got time to blog, but I have definitely taken pictures and tested products. Posts might be slow to come but they will definitely trickle in.

Once a beauty blogger, always a beauty blogger. As soon as I knew that my family was coming here, the first thing I prepared was a long shopping list, mostly with nail polishes (I can never have enough of them !!). I got nail paints from Colorbar, a US based company which has a stand alone store in Select City Walk, Saket, Delhi.

Now, to the swatches and my opinions

Whisper Pink:

My thoughts :

This is a light pink nail color with silver shimmer

Like all shimmer nail paints, its a pain to remove

With 2 coats, there was 'visible nail line' but 3 coat was enough to get opacity

Blue Martini :

My thoughts :

Its a fun color, something which I can see myself sporting in summer months

The formula is creamy but runny

With 2 coats I had bald patches so 3 coats was used to obtain opacity

Lilac Mist:

My thought:

First thing first, the only thing lilac about this nail paint is the shimmer

Its a taupe based nail paint with loads of lilac shimmer

This was the only nail paint which was opaque in 2 coats.

My final thoughts :

Frankly speaking there is not much to write home about these nail paints. I mean for Rs125(~2.50AUD), Ulta3 has far better nail paints.
Although, I still have to swatch few more nail paints from this range, but I don't have high hopes from them.

Availability : Colorbar store in Select City Walk, DelhiPrice: Rs 125/- on average

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

I have always been troubled with dry lips and this cold winter is not helping me either. So, when I read that Bloom has collaborated with Boost Juice Smoothies to bring out 6 news lip balms , it got me intrigued...lip balm in flavor of smoothies..interesting.
I will not lie, but my first thought on reading the Press Release was that its another gimmicky product.
To put to its real test, I stopped applying any lip balm for 2 straight days and let my lips go to the driest possible state. Things we do to test products !!

About the lip balm

There are 6 flavors to choose from

Strawberry Squeeze

Watermelon Crush

Berry Bang

Mango Tango

Banana Buzz

Tropical Storm

Each one of them contain soothing beeswax,nourishing jojoba seed oil and moisturising Vitamin E.
They are free of Parabens,Petrochemicals,Mineral Oils and Silicones

What I like about them:

The fact that it lives up to its promise of moisturising and nourishing the lips

It lasts quite long on lips even with all drinking and eating

It doesn't feel waxy or heavy on lips

I can easily wear it under lipstick

The Boost flavor is not overpowering.

Works great as overnight balm

The oblong shape of the tube itself makes it very easy to apply.

What I don't like about them:

If only they had some SPF content in them they would have scored perfect 10.

I love it so much that I carry it around with me. Its a winner for me.

Would I recommend it : Yes. In fact I am going to buy few for my sisters.

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Does it ever happen to you that you get so obsessed with a particular color that you want everything in that shade ?? Or is it just me ?? Okay, I think its just me

This season I am obsessed with anything from family of purple be it lilac, magenta or just purple. Right from dresses, to nail paints to lip color..everything...In fact the other day my husband said " I don't understand why are you looking for everything lilac"..phew, men, few things can be explained to them.

Anyways in my latest craze, I was in search of a lilac nail paint. I went looking from high end brands like Chanel to drugstore like Rimmel..nothing suited my fancy..either they were too sheer and shimmery or too pastel for my complexion.

That's when I saw this post on MummaInHeels blog, I thought I will give a try to OPI Planks A Lot from Pirate of Caribbean Collection.

This is how it looks

It looks nice but it has strong undertones of blue, not exactly the color I was after. Nevertheless, its a beautiful color and I know I will be reaching for this quite often.

Now, the SA at DJ who was billing for me was wearing nail paint which caught my attention and she told me that it was OPI Lucky Lucky Lavender. I was so tempted to buy it but I was not sure how it will look on my NC40 hands.
And no prizes for guessing that I spent few days browsing swatches and fretting about Lucky Lucky Lavender. Anyways I gave in and bought it.

It has more of pink than blue and even though its a pastel it doesn't make my hands look more tanned, which is a big win in my books.

The moment of truth, did I get the lilac nail color I was after ? Yes, and that would be *drum roll please* Lucky Lucky Lavender.....it was the color I wanted.

On another note, OPI nail paints have never disappointed me in term of color, finish or ease of application. Never once have I been let down by them. You know what this means, more OPI fun to come along

P.S : Excuse my cuticles, I am working to get them in better condition

Thursday, July 14, 2011

I wasn't sure about getting it till I saw this post on KirRoyale's blog. In fact I was waiting for Chanel Summer Soleil Tan Bronzing powder in Bronze Rose, but when I tried it in store, it looked quite muddy. So, I passed on that and waited for the next best thing.

And boy, was I glad that I waited. The Nude Glow in Aurora looks so pretty, in fact I was reluctant to use it cause I didn't want to make a dent in the pretty pattern

And this is how it looks when swatched heavily.No shimmer shows in the below swatch but it has fine shimmer in it.

The packaging is real luxe and comes in a velvet pouch with a separate compartment for the brush.

I use this brush to gently pick very little product and sweep it all over my face. It gives me that pretty summer glow without imparting too much color or making me look like glitter ball.

Now, to the critical question , is this must have ? In my opinion , not exactly but if you already don't have something similar and want the summer glow in this cold winter then look no past, this is the product for you.

And yes, it being Limited Edition so get it while its still there.

Availibility : All major department storePrice : Approx $76 AUD

P.S: I had swatched Sunset in store but it was very burnt orange almost like terracota.

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

I have been using makeup for quite sometime now and having buying both from drugstore and department store. Being a beauty blogger means there is always something new which gets my attention and like bee I hop from one product to another.

Inspite of this frequent hopping, few products standout in their performance which make me go back to them.

And its not just Deparment Store/Boutique products but some of the star perfomers/gems are from drugstore.
In coming weeks I will be having a series of posts discussing the various drugstore gems I have in my
repertoire.

Tuesday, July 5, 2011

Don't you just love when there is a freebie which you can actually use and its to pretty so look at.
So, being the pretty things slave I am , I couldn't walk past Vogue Australia magazine for this month.

Currently they are having 2 cosmetic bags which is coming free with their monthly issue.

With the amount of makeup I have amassed and all the loose lipsticks/glosses in my handbag, these cosmetic bags really make sense for me.

The fabric appears to be waterproof and the smaller one comes with a inner pocket as well. I generally store cotton buds and tissues in there. And the icing on the cake is the cute 'V' charm on the outer zipper.

Monday, July 4, 2011

Every winter, I can be found whining about my dry, flaky skin and scouring the department/drugstore for that one magic product which would fix it for me.

But, not this winter.

I had changed by complete skincare routine about 10-11 months ago and now I tweak it based on change in season while keeping the basics same.

Today, I will share with you my daily skincare routine. For reference I have dry, sensitive skin with blackheads on my nose(I know eeww!!)

Morning Skincare

Dermalogica UltraCalming Cleanser.

Dermalogica UltraCalming Mist. I spritz my face with this after pat drying

Dermalogica Total Eye Care cream.

Dermalogica Skin Hydrating Booster. I usually take 4-5 drops of its and apply it on my face while my skin is still damp. After this I generally wait for 5 - 10 minutes before the next step.

Blossom Kochhar Sunscreen with SPF 30.

Aesop Camellia Nut Facial Hydrating Cream as the day cream.

I wait for 10 minutes after the last step in skincare routine before starting makeup

Evening Skincare

Dermalogica Precleanse. I use this to gently remove all my makeup

Dermalogica UltraCalming Cleanser

Dermalogica UltraCalming Mist

Dermalogica Gentle Soothing Booster

Dermalogica Skin Hydrating Booster

Nivea Creme in blue tub ( I am not sure how to refer to it , but thats how I differentiate)

It might seem to be a lengthy process but its totally worth it. For first time in many winters, dry and flaky skin hasn't bothered me.
I plan to review each one of these seperately, so you can expect many skincare review post.

Note: I am not affliated to Dermalogica or being paid by them for this post. All above mentioned products have been bought with yours truly hard earned money.